BQ Strike smartphone review. “Inexpensive, but an accurate blow to the market. Best BQ smartphones What a BQ phone looks like

BQ Strike smartphone review. "Inexpensive, but an accurate blow to the market"

Budget brands today have grown significantly and are fighting for the consumer very actively. BQ's desire to join this race is justified and the company offers good solutions for sane money. First, let's get acquainted with the characteristics of the Strike model.

BQ Strike
operating system	Android 6
Display	IPS 5", 1280 x 720 pix.
CPU	MTK 6580, 4 cores 1.3GHz
RAM	1 GB
Flash	8 GB + microSD up to 64 GB
Camera	Rear: 13 MP, autofocus, flash; Front: 5 MP
Communications	GSM 850/900/1800/1900 MHz 3G WCDMA 900/2100 MHz, IEEE 802.11 b/g/n,
Peculiarities	Mini-SIM + micro-SIM
Battery	2000 mAh
Dimensions	145 x 73 x 10mm, 174g
Price	i 5 490

Source: ZOOM.CNews

The delivery package of the Strike is quite good: in addition to the device itself and the battery, you will find a network charger, a USB to micro-USB cable, a wired stereo headset, headphones, as well as a warranty card and instructions in a thick red cardboard box. At the same time, a protective film is pasted on the device by default.

Appearance

If the “face” is a novelty and resembles the usual products of the Android smartphone market, then the sidewalls and the back panel are attractive and individual. The structure of the smartphone is as follows: the screen and the entire core of the device are inserted into the body-forming aluminum bath. The solution is not new, but it has proven itself well and the design is strong, and there can be no backlash-gaps (although we noted some creaking when squeezing). The smudgeiness of the design is moderate: if there cannot be fingerprints on the rear panel, then the front panel, due to glass and blackening, practically attracts them.

The dimensions of the Strike match the screen: it is medium in size, and the weight is slightly above average, but you quickly get used to it. In the hand, the design lies well due to the smoothed edges of the case.

It should be noted that the device does not slip in the palms, and corrugated inserts at the top and bottom add charm to the design. As for the colors, we had a light green modification in our editorial office, and you can also find black, dark gray, gold, red and rose gold on sale (recall, the “bath” is replaceable, but there are no cases in free sale).

The filling of the case is familiar and we will start with the dominant - the front panel. Here, in addition to the display, about which a little later, there is a block of touch control keys, "return", "home" and "menu" - from below, as well as a speaker surrounded by a front camera, position / proximity sensors and an operation indicator - from above.

The left end of the case is devoid of elements, and a combined volume swing and a lock key are placed on the right end (the movement of both elements is tangible and expectedly tight - you won’t accidentally press it).

At the bottom end of the Strike there is only a microphone, and the top one is given over to the micro-USB connector and the 3.5 mm audio jack.

On the rear panel, in addition to the manufacturer's logo and model name, we are waiting for a horizontal slot for the call speaker and the rear camera lens console with a flash bulb to the right of it.

To remove the "core" of the smartphone, a ledge is provided in the upper part of the case. Lifehack: for ease of manipulation, you can press on the rear camera module - then it will be easier to remove the filling.

Inside we are waiting for the battery in the appropriate tray, which in turn covers the slots for micro-SIM and mini-SIM. To the left of the cards is the micro-SD slot.

Screen

The device uses a 5-inch IPS matrix with HD resolution. In general, the screen is pretty good for a budget solution: it has natural colors and sufficient brightness.

The picture is clear, there is no graininess either in the textures or in the texts, and the viewing angles, if not the maximum, are generally acceptable.

Capacitive sensor, supports up to 2 simultaneous touches. If everything is clear with text input, then there were misses with command input (perhaps because of the film). When exposed to direct sunlight, the picture fades, but remains readable.

Software and Interface

The device runs on Android 6.0 without any additional launchers. It is worth noting that Strike is one of the first devices from the company with a "six" out of the box, and this is a significant advantage over the competitor even within the manufacturer's line.

The lock screen is standard: in addition to the current date and time, received notifications are displayed here, which can really be encrypted or hidden. Above is an unchanging status bar, and below, in addition to the “unlock lock”, there are icons available for the phone and the camera.

Desktops are familiar in content, though without circular scrolling. Here, in addition to changing the wallpaper, you can place widgets, folders and application shortcuts. The bottom row of screens is reserved for the changeable "dock" that follows the red thread through all desktops, and the top one is the status bar. Flipping the top curtain down, we will get access to incoming notifications, brightness settings and shortcuts for launching modules.

The main menu is matrix, 4 x 6, although the inscriptions of the lower row do not fit, but there is a search bar on top.

The settings menu is unadorned: a vertical lined list of options and a monochrome icon to the left of the inscription.

The Dual-SIM service is implemented quite competently: at the first installation of cards, the device offers to set defaults, which can later be changed in the settings menu. In addition, you can change the name of the map and the color of the display, although the event indication itself is very visual.

As for applications, along with the regular ones, you get the “Give Life” social service, explorer, backup, Yandex services including a browser and the Apps Press hub with various services and games that require additional installation.

Hardware and Performance

The hardware filling of the novelty matches the price tag: a quad-core “stone”, a gigabyte of RAM and eight flash-memory. In this case, micro-SD cards are present and the smartphone offers to store either multimedia content on them, or mounts them as a full-fledged memory for software (although in this case the speed of the memory card itself greatly affects the speed of the memory card - we would not recommend using slow ones).

Geekbench 3 (Single core/Multi core)	322/1009
AnTuTu Benchmark v6.1.4	24248
3D Mark (Ice Strom Unlimited)	2914
3D Mark (Ice Storm Extreme)	2025
Epic Citadel (High Quality)	43.6 FPS

Characteristics:

BQ Strike

B.Q. Highway

Housing materials

Plastic + metal

Plastic

operating system

Google Android 6.0

Google Android 6.0

Net

2G/3G, two sim cards

2G/3G, LTE , Dual SIM

CPU

4 cores, 64-bit, MediaTek MT6580

4 cores, 64-bit, Qualcomm Snapdragon 210 MSM8909

RAM

1 GB

1 GB

Memory for data storage

8 GB

8 GB

Interfaces

Wi-Fi (b/g/n), Bluetooth 4.0, microUSB (USB 2.0) connector for charge/sync, 3.5 mm headset

Screen

IPS 5"" with a resolution of 1280x720 pixels

TN 5"" with a resolution of 854x480 dots

Camera

13/5 MP, flash

8/2 MP, flash

Navigation

GPS

GPS/GLONASS/Baidu

Battery

Removable, lithium-ion (Li-Ion) with a capacity of 2000 mAh, 7.6 Wh

Removable, lithium-ion (Li-Ion) with a capacity of 2000 mAh, 7.4 Wh

Dimensions

144 x 73 x 9.5mm

143 x 73 x 11mm

Weight

175 g

161 g

Colors

Dark grey, red, gold, green, pink and black

Gold and dark gray

Introduction

Not so long ago, the Russian company BQ Mobile announced several budget smartphones. Two devices called Strike and Highway were brought to the editorial office. By the way, I noticed that the company has moved away from naming devices by country and city. But in vain, now it has become like everyone else - boring: Drive, another Blade, Fresh, Golf and so on.

The Strike gadget is distinguished by the fact that for 5,500 rubles it offers an HD IPS screen, a metal back cover and 6 body colors. The name Highway, apparently, has a special subtle meaning. This is me, of course, with sarcasm, since the device is interesting only for the presence of a fourth-generation 4G LTE connection. True, the cost is already about 6,000 rubles. Smartphones are not particularly different from each other, and besides, they are budget, so it makes no sense to describe each separately.

Design, dimensions, controls

The BQ Strike smartphone looks more attractive (on the site you will find a bonus - two photos of a pretty girl with this phone): if the front side is unremarkable, then the back side of the case is made of metal. In addition, the device has several colors - dark gray, red, green, pink, gold and black. It seems to me that such a set is quite suitable for teenagers or children: a large screen, a well-assembled body, cheerful colors. The corners are sloping, the upper and lower inserts on the reverse side are plastic, corrugated.

Highway looks much simpler: an ordinary rectangle in a semi-gloss plastic case. Two colors: gold and dark gray. With the assembly, everything is fine, nothing creaks or backlash. It's nice when inexpensive devices are at least soundly assembled.

Both the Strike and the Highway have an oleophobic coating. Its quality is low, so I advise you to look for special glasses with a layer for them.

The dimensions of smartphones are about the same: a little more compact in terms of the thickness of the Strike, it has dimensions of 144 x 73 x 9.5 mm and a weight of 175 grams, the Highway is thicker - 143 x 73 x 11 mm, but slightly lighter.

In the hand, both gadgets lie well, do not slip out.

On top of the front panels there are indicators of missed events, sensors, cameras and speech speakers. Speaker quality varies. The Highway has a loud sound (there is a separate volume up button), clear, sharp, the interlocutor can be heard perfectly and legibly. The sound of the Strike speaker is of medium volume, deaf, intelligibility is average, the interlocutor is heard, although clearly, but as if from afar.

Below are typical Android buttons without backlighting.

At the bottom end of the Highway is microUSB and a microphone, while the Strike has only a microphone. At the top, the Highway has a 3.5 mm headphone jack, while the Strike also has a microUSB.

Both models have the power button and volume rocker located on the right side. Tactilely pleasant, with a clear move, soft pressing.

On the reverse side, the camera lens and the Strike flash are separated into a separate module, which looks good. The eye of the Highway camera is top center, the flash is below. Hands-free speakers for gadgets at the bottom.

The Strike and Highway covers are removable. Under them there are two slots for sim cards and a memory card. Strike has sim cards of two different formats - micro and mini, while Highway can have both "sim cards" micro.

BQ Strike, Highway and LG G4 (right)

BQ Strike, Highway and Apple iPhone (right)

BQ Strike, Highway and Hammer (right)

Display

Both gadgets have the same screen size, 5 inches. The physical size is 62x110 mm, the top frame is 17 mm (15 mm for Highway), the bottom frame is 16.5 mm (16 mm for Highway), the right and left sides are about 5 mm each. There is an anti-reflective coating, quite effective.

BQ's Strike display resolution is HD, i.e. 720x1280 pixels, aspect ratio is 16:9, density is 293 pixels per inch. IPS matrix with an air layer. Highway display resolution - FWVGA, that is, 480x854 pixels, aspect ratio - 16:9, density - 195 pixels per inch. Matrix TN with an air layer.

B.Q.Strike:

The maximum brightness of white color is 300 cd/m2, the maximum brightness of black color is 0.51 cd/m2, and the contrast ratio is 580:1. Multi-touch - two simultaneous touches.

B.Q. Highway:

The maximum brightness of white color is 240 cd/m2, the maximum brightness of black color is 0.55 cd/m2, and the contrast ratio is 440:1. Multi-touch - two simultaneous touches.

Both screens have a low quality matrix. However, the Highway has a TN-type matrix, that is, the image behaves terribly at angles: it turns purple, yellow, loses contrast, and inverts. In 2016, it is not appropriate to use such displays in smartphones more expensive than 3,000 rubles.

In the light (Strike - left)

Viewing Angles (Strike - Left)

Batteries

Smartphones are equipped with removable 2000 mAh batteries.

Given the simple technical stuffing, in theory, you can squeeze a full day of work out of the devices. On average, gadgets "lived" from 10 am to 5 pm. In this mode, calls were made (with a total duration of about 20 minutes), applications (Twitter, WhatsApp, mail) and cameras were launched.

The standalone operating time of Strike and Highway is plus or minus the same. Both play videos for about 5 hours, with toys it's a little more difficult - here it's only 1.5 hours.

In the kits you will find 1 A network adapters. The batteries are charged from a regular “charger” for about 2.5 hours.

Communication options

Test devices can work with two SIM cards. The Strike has the old miniSIM slot, while the Highway has both microSIM slots. The first operates in 2G / 3G networks, but Highway is distinguished by the presence of 4G LTE (FDD B1 (2100MHz), B3 (1800MHz), B7 (2700MHz), B20 (800MHz)).

Other parameters are typical for any budget Android device: Wi-Fi IEEE 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0. The BQ Highway smartphone understands USB OTG, that is, you can easily connect, for example, a USB flash drive to it. Strike does not have this feature.

The Strike device "sees" only GPS, and even then with difficulty. But Highway is doing well: not only GPS is in sight, but also Russian GLONASS with Chinese Baidu. The determination speed and accuracy are high.

As a navigator, the BQ Strike gadget is hardly suitable.

Memory and memory card

Inside the devices - one gigabyte of RAM and eight gigabytes of built-in Flash-memory. Few of both. Who would argue...

There is support for microSD memory cards up to 64 GB.

cameras

The BQ Strike smartphone has two cameras on board: the main one is 13 MP (f2.0), the front one is 5 MP (f2.8). There is a flash. The Highway is much simpler - 8/2 (interpolation from 0.3) MP plus flash.

It makes no sense to talk about Highway cameras, since the main module does not have autofocus, and selfies are obtained as if taken from a peephole.

The Strike camera surprisingly turned out to be more than good! The device costs only 5,500 rubles, and it shoots better than some A-brands: the focus is accurate, the bokeh is pleasant (thanks to the f2.0 aperture), the white balance is correct, and so on.

Video Strike writes in FullHD resolution at 30 fps. The downside is that the bitrate is small - 11 Mbps, the picture often "crumbles" into artifacts. There is autofocus. Selfie - 640x480 pixels.

Video Highway - HD at 30 fps. The quality is not bad, the bitrate is about 5 Mbps. Selfies - 640x480 pixels and 12 fps.

Highway Interface:

Strike interface:

Examples of photos on BQ Strike:

Video examples on BQ Strike:

• Sample video (MP4, 36 MB) >>>
• Sample video (MP4, 0.6 MB) >>>

Examples of photos on BQ Highway:

Video examples on BQ Highway:

• Sample video (MP4, 8 MB) >>>
• Sample video (MP4, 1.5 MB) >>>

Performance

The BQ Strike device is powered by the Taiwanese MediaTek MT6580 chipset. This is a 64-bit SoC that contains 4 ARM Cortex-A7 cores, a 28 nm manufacturing process, each with a clock frequency of up to 1.3 GHz. Mali-400 is used as graphics.

BQ Highway is equipped with Qualcomm Snapdragon 210 (MSM8909) chipset. This is a 64-bit SoC that contains 4 ARM Cortex-A7 cores, a 28 nm manufacturing process, each with a clock frequency of up to 1.1 GHz. Adreno 304 is used as graphics.

The interface of smartphones does not lag, there are no shell friezes. From the point of view of the functioning of the system, everything is fine. With games, which is natural, everything is not very good: toys go either at low or at best at medium settings. Powerful "dins" wildly slow down. However, BQ Highway behaves better in games: sometimes you can choose high graphics (Unkilled). Smoothness will be absent, but it is quite possible to “wet” the monsters.

Can a quality smartphone be affordable? To answer this question we have a novelty BQ Strike Forward with widescreen display and metal case.

Specifications

• Screen: 5.45 inches, aspect ratio 18:9, IPS, 1440x720 295 ppi, 2.5D.
• Operating system: Android 8.1 Oreo.
• Chipset: MediaTek MT6739.
• CPU: 4 ARM Cortex-A53 cores (1.5 GHz).
• GPU: PowerVR Rogue GE8100
• RAM: 2 GB LPDDR3.
• Built-in storage: 16 GB eMMC 5.1 + microSD up to 128 GB.
• Main camera: 13 MP (f / 2.0), autofocus, LED flash.
• Front camera: 5 MP (f / 2.2), interpolation up to 8 MP, LED flash.
• Battery: 3200 mAh, removable.
• Dimensions: 148 x 71 x 8.9 mm.
• Weight: 146 grams.
• Slots: 2 nano-SIM + microSD.
• Connectivity: LTE.Cat 4 FDD-LTE: (B1/3/7/20), Bluetooth: 4.0, Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n 2.4GHz, GPS (A-GPS), GLONASS, USB OTG.
• Sensors: ambient light, proximity, accelerometer, fingerprint scanner.
• Available colors: black, silver, golden, red, purple.

Packing and scope of delivery

The BQ branded box contains a standard kit: a smartphone, a removable battery, a charger, a USB cable and pieces of paper.

Positioning

BQ Strike Forward belongs to the class of affordable smartphones with a minimally comfortable set of features, that is, without frills. The recommended price is 6990 rubles, but online platforms offer a smartphone from 6500 rubles. For this money: an elongated display, a trendy metal design, fresh Android 8.1 Oreo and a budget chip from MediaTek.

The pricing policy is adequate, competitors in the corridor of 500-1000 rubles offer a similar set of features, although some of them work on older Android Nougat - it all depends on the newness of the model. The main advantage is availability and localization, BQ is sold in popular stores and with a transparent guarantee. A good option for users who follow the “buy and use” principle. But BQ Strike Forward cannot be called ideal, the low cost forced compromises.

I note right away that BQ Strike Forward is out of competition with Xiaomi and other brands from the Middle Kingdom, as their smartphones will cost a little more even in Chinese stores, which cannot be considered, due to additional troubles with the order, expectation and warranty.

Appearance

Before us is a collection of trends from past years, which stands out from the competition with a variety of colors: black, silver, golden, red, purple. The 2.5D glass front panel is available in white or black. The transition from the display to the ends is smooth, despite the additional plastic piping. The bezels are thin enough not to be conspicuous. The display received rounded corners, the same as last year's. I confess that if I have a choice between a display with rounded corners or a monobrow, I will prefer the first option, at least for more practicality.

A film is applied out of the box, but I immediately want to remove it for two reasons. Firstly, the installed Panda Glass is well protected from large scratches, although small ones appear regularly. The second and main reason is a good oleophobic coating, which is a characteristic feature of much more expensive smartphones.

Above the display: front camera, earpiece, sensors and flash. Under - free space. Light and proximity sensors are full. The first is sensitive to changes in ambient light - automatic brightness control is smooth and without delay.

The back side of the smartphone is made of metal with plastic inserts at the top and bottom, the ends are also plastic. The approach was popular 1-2 years ago - it's a good compromise between all-metal and all-plastic cases. The camera block is offset from the center and does not protrude beyond the body. The main speaker is located symmetrically in the lower part, its location gives out the low cost of Strike Forward. In addition, there is a fingerprint sensor on the back, the BQ logo and the model name. which received an unusual texture.

The fingerprint scanner is the most common, without additional features or gestures. The speed and accuracy of operation is good even in this budget, but too smooth ignition of the display spoils the impression.

At the bottom end there is a microUSB connector and a single microphone. Above is only the standard audio output. All buttons are concentrated on the right side, the left, respectively, is free.

At first glance, it may seem that Strike Forward is a non-separable smartphone with a metal back. But in fact, the lid is removable and consists of a plastic frame with a metal lining. The body feels solid, does not creak or play after two weeks of hard use. But you should not abuse the constant removal and putting on, so as not to loosen the plastic latches. Under the cover is a removable battery and separate slots for 2 nanoSIM and microSD memory cards.

Display

Strike Forward received a widescreen display with a diagonal of 5.45 inches and a resolution of 1440x720 pixels. BQ has recently been pleased with good matrices with excellent color reproduction and contrast. The maximum brightness is unusually high even for mid-budget and expensive smartphones, thanks to which the screen absolutely does not fade under the sun. The minimum level is better than most inexpensive smartphones, but a bit high for comfortable smartphone use at night. The disadvantage is treated programmatically, for example, through the utility. Viewing angles are maximum, as the screen is made using OGS technology.

There are no software settings. The touch panel supports up to 5 touches, there are no complaints about the operation of the wheelbarrow.

cameras

The main camera is represented by a 13-megapixel module with f / 2.0 aperture and a single-color LED flash. Autofocus and metering work correctly, but the pictures clearly lack dynamic range and juiciness. Sharpness is concentrated in the center of the frame, the edges are blurry. Software HDR is relatively fast and saves the frame in backlit conditions. Video writes in 1080P 30 frames per second, electronic stabilization is available. The camera is enough to take a picture of documents or an interesting moment the first time, it makes no sense to count on more.

5MP front camera with up to 8MP interpolation and f/2.2 aperture. The pictures look detailed, such a selfie is not ashamed to post on social networks. Sharpness is uniform throughout the frame. At night, when there is not enough aperture, the LED flash comes to the rescue. It is a pity that the developers did not provide for a flashlight mode, since the flash is very blinding.

Iron

MediaTek MT6739 is used as a hardware platform - a further evolution of MT6735 and MT6737. Familiar 4 Cortex-A53 cores overclocked to 1.5 GHz. The key innovation is the transition to PowerVR Rogue GE8100 graphics at 570 MHz. The new accelerator copes much better with hardware video encoding and decoding - weak features of its predecessors. The performance of the system relative to MT6737, if it has grown, is quite insignificant and is at the same, low level.

The amount of memory corresponds to the minimum comfortable threshold - 2 GB of LPDDR3 RAM at a frequency of 667 MHz and a built-in 16 GB eMMC 5.1 storage. The speed of reading from memory is excellent, and the writes are low, since this does not significantly affect the overall performance.

Even if only the overlay is metal, it still helps to remove heat from the chipset so that the smartphone easily passed an hour-long stress test without resetting the frequency and significant heating.

Software

The smartphone runs pure Android 8.1 Oreo - great for an affordable smartphone. The firmware is not 100% smooth, rarely, but there are jerky animations. The only thing the company abuses is the quantity and quality of pre-installed applications, here Sberbank Online and InfoHub and Auto.ru News and even Yandex - all of the above can be deleted.

The second nuance is links to partner content on the second desktop. Among them there are services for adult users - bookmakers and even online casinos. Links are updated from time to time, showing all the new ads. It turns out that immediately after the purchase you need to clean out everything superfluous.

A clean system guarantees the presence of all the regular features of Android Oreo: system scaling, dual-window mode, Google Assistant and others. In addition, gestures are available: double tap, movement to one of the sides, as well as the inscription of letters. Each of them is personalized and works correctly. Another option is to display the charge level as a percentage.

Inexpensive segment of smartphones in 2016 continues to surprise. Take, for example, the June novelty BQ Strike BQS-5020, which claims a 13 megapixel camera, IPS HD screen and a metal case. All this pleasure for Russian users will cost 5490 rubles per Buyon online store. It is important to note that, unlike offers in Chinese stores, there is no need to wait for delivery, and an official guarantee is provided. Intrigued? Here we are, too, we propose to understand in detail during the review.

Below is a summary table of available offers in Russian retail, compiled on the basis of data from the Yandex.Market service.

BQ Strike review

Equipment

Supplied BQ Strike BQS-5020 in ardent packaging. The front side shows the main advantages of the smartphone.

The package includes a 0.5A charger, a microUSB cable, headphones, instructions and a warranty card.

Appearance

BQ Strike is available in several color options. We have classic black on tests, it looks attractive.

The assembly is excellent, all the details fit perfectly to each other. The lid does not bend under the pressure of the fingers.

The metal declared in the characteristics is located in the center of the cover. This improves rigidity and contributes positively to passive heat dissipation.

External surfaces with a matte finish, do not slip or get dirty. Marky only screen.

The side edges are slightly convex. It's nice to hold in your hands. All elements are within easy reach.

On the right, the BQ Strike has a power button and a volume rocker. The buttons are tightly fixed in the body, do not rattle, are pressed with little effort.

Both connectors are on the top. There is microUSB for charging and a 3.5mm audio jack for headphones.

The front side is covered with protective glass. There are three non-illuminated touch buttons on the bottom frame. On the top frame there is a voice speaker, a front camera and a set of sensors.

The main camera block is visually separated from the total cover area. Next to the lens is an LED flash. It does not protrude above the surface of the case, it will not scratch.

The cover is removable, for admission to the connectors you will need to apply force to it. There are two SIM bays (micro and nano), as well as a slot for a memory card. The battery is also removable.

Screen

BQ Strike received a 5-inch IPS-screen with HD resolution. The screen, taking into account the budget, pleased with the detail and uniformity of the backlight. The maximum brightness level is acceptable, but still the screen fades under the sun's rays. Two simultaneous touches are supported, there is no question about the operation of the sensor.

Filling

The heart of the BQ Strike is a MediaTek MT6580 quad-core processor with Cortex A7 cores running at 1.3 GHz. Mali400MP2 is responsible for the graphics. The performance level is far from being record-breaking, but if we discard this senseless race for the top lines of the benchmark, the smartphone will delight not only with the smooth operation of the interface, but also with games like World of Tanks Blitz and Asphalt 8. In complex projects, graphics quality will need to be reduced. On board 1 GB of RAM and 8 GB of internal memory. Supports high-capacity drives.

Antutu

Connection

The capabilities of the telephone module are limited only by 3G frequencies. The connection is stable, no breaks were noticed. There is Bluetooth 4.0 and single-band Wi-Fi.

Battery

The MediaTek MT6580 is powered by a 2000 mAh battery. At maximum load, the charge is enough for 3.5 hours of operation. In a mixed scenario, you can stretch the entire working day. The result, considering the light weight, is good.

Camera

Main camera with a resolution of 13 megapixels with autofocus. Frontal 5MP. It uses a traditional application with creative modes and manual settings. In the daytime, the camera takes good pictures. There is noise in low light. The resulting images can be shared on social networks without hesitation.

Soft

BQ Strike will please the owner with a fresh version of Android 6.0. There are no branded shells and add-ons. Icons for installing programs and games have been placed on the desktop. If you do not want to clog memory, they are easily removed directly from the main screen.

Over the air updates are supported. Bayon app for online shopping with delicious prices for Russian users.

Results for BQ Strike

BQ Strike is a very attractive inexpensive smartphone with a good IPS screen, installed Android 6.0, high-quality cameras, dual SIM and memory card support, a quad-core processor and a reinforced body. You can find fault with the battery capacity and the lack of LTE, but on the other hand, all this is conditional, and you should not forget about the final cost, not everyone is ready to overpay. There were no failures or problems in operation.

Affordable price and Android 6.0 are the main reasons I chose this smartphone. The rest of the specs met my basic requirements: a 5-inch HD screen, 1GB of RAM, and a 13MP camera.

To begin with, there are BQ phones from the Spanish company BQ and the Russian BQ Mobile. As a result, confusion arises. Even in many large catalogs, these phones are not separated, falling into one category, like one brand.

BQ Strike (BQS-5020) is a smartphone of a Russian company. In Minsk, it cost me 204 rubles ($102), while in Russia it costs only 5,490 rubles ($86). For the money this offer is very interesting.

Country of manufacture: China.

The kit includes: a charging unit, a USB cable, vacuum headphones, a protective film (already pasted on the screen), a Russian user manual and a branded warranty card. The charging block indicates charging with a current of 0.15 amperes, which is surprisingly small. In fact, the tester shows 0.77 amperes. It was unexpected to see pleasant-looking vacuum headphones included with a budget phone. Even the sound quality was good. They look dignified, shameless and leave the house with such.

The protective film is already on the screen - also good. After all, you can successfully stick it on your own forever.

Specifications

Display	IPS, 5", 1280x720 pixels
Sensors	position, proximity, illumination
Camera	13 MP, autofocus, flash
Front-camera	5 MP
CPU	32-bit MediaTek MT6580, Mali-400 MP, OpenGL ES 2.0
RAM	1 GB
Memory	8 GB (3.97 GB available)
Memory card	MicroSD up to 64 GB
OS	Android 6.0
Dimensions	145 x 73 x 10mm
Weight	174 g
Battery	2000 mAh
SIM cards	2 (micro SIM + full size SIM)
Net	GSM, 3G
Other	Bluetooth 4.0, Wi-Fi, GPS, FM radio

Appearance

The first thing I noticed when I took the phone out of the box was how bulky it was. After my compact Phicomm Passion P660, this is strongly felt. In fact, it is: the phone weighs 174 grams, and its thickness is 1 cm. The length and width of the campus: 145 and 73 mm (calipers confirmed these dimensions). All this is quite normal for a budget device. Once you get used to it, it is quite convenient to use it.

Many say, like me, it looks great. In this regard, he "makes" many budget smartphones.

On the official website, metal is indicated as the material. In fact, they are lying. More precisely, they do not agree a little. The back of the removable panel is indeed completely metal, except for two small plastic inserts at the top and bottom. The sides, upper and lower ends of this panel are also plastic painted to look like metal. That is, a metal fox is glued to the removable plastic panel, which can be seen in the photo.

The assembly is good. But there are some bad things. The lid, when pressed hard in the middle, is pressed through and a quiet creak is heard. There is a gap between the protective glass and the body, where grains of sand and other dirt get in, and it is problematic to clean them. I don’t know how much such an engineering solution was necessary in the design of the phone, but it will spoil the aesthetic appearance during long-term operation. For clarity, I inserted paper into this gap.

Below the screen are three silver touch buttons. They don't light up. The user manual states that the "Menu" key is on the right. However, on the desktop or in any application, it does not bring up a menu, but always opens the list of recent applications (whether you hold it down or simply press it). Central key: "Home". Left: Return.

When you miss a message or a call, a green indicator flashes to the right of the earpiece. When the charger is connected, the red indicator lights up, changing to green when fully charged.

The event indicator can be configured: Settings - Screen - Notifications. You can enable or disable notifications for:

1. Missed calls and messages (green indicator);
2. Application alerts (green indicator);
3. Low battery (red indicator);
4. Phone charging (red indicator);
5. Completion of charging (red indicator).

Screen

It is indicated that this is an IPS matrix, which is better than ordinary TFT. Although, I didn't notice a difference. Glass here or plastic - I can not determine. There is no information about this. There is an air gap - this gives a loss of color when viewed at angles and glare in the sun.

The screen is bright and the colors are vibrant. But, the black color is a little overexposed (not completely black). If you look at sharp angles, that is, there is an insignificant color distortion, the brightness of the picture drops, but good visibility of what is on the screen is preserved. After all, no one looks at the screen at an acute angle, using a smartphone.

If you go outside on a sunny day, then it is difficult to use it under direct sunlight - it is difficult to see something on the screen. From the sun's rays, the screen will have to be blocked by hand.

The sensor recognizes two simultaneous touches - more is needed. I never noticed that a third touch was needed. But his sensitivity is not high. For a very light touch, the sensor will not work. In dynamic games, such sensitivity interferes with control, and in normal use of the phone it does not matter.

As I already wrote, a protective film is pasted. It is easily soiled, easily collects prints that are not erased in one motion, as on an oleophobic coating. I can assume that without it, the screen will give less glare in the sun, and the sensor may be more responsive, but I did not remove it, at least for the first time.

Despite the shortcomings mentioned above, the screen is good for this price range.

There is MediaTek's MiraVision technology, which allows you to fine-tune screen colors. Settings - Screen - MiraVision. The default mode is Standard, but you can choose either Vivid (colors will become brighter) or Custom. In the user mode, you can manually adjust many parameters: contrast, saturation, brightness, sharpness, and color temperature.

Android 6.0 and Apps

There are many adware apps and games. Accurate, they are not on the phone, but only shortcuts (icons) on the desktop, when clicked, a link for downloading from the Play Store opens. Among them are links to applications: ICQ, Lamoda, Forex Club, Svyaznoy Travel tickets, Search for tours, News for you, Yula - ads nearby, Abstracts, Yandex Market. Links to games: Mobile Strike, Ocean Blitz, Dragon Soul, Vikings War of Clans, Juggernaut Wars, Heroes of Might and Magic. They are easily removed, which was immediately done by me.

There are two browsers: Yandex Browser and Chrome. Yandex Browser can be removed, while Chrome is the default browser and is not removed.

Performance

For me, performance tests never mattered, but still I will share the result. In AnTuTu Benchmark, the BQ Strike smartphone scored 18,919 points. The touch screen recognizes 2 simultaneous touches.

There are no performance issues in BQ Strike. 1 gigabyte of RAM and a MediaTek MT6580 processor pull Android 6.0 as it should. The graphical interface does not slow down, it takes no more than a second to launch simple applications (calendar, contacts, gallery), like most smartphones with similar filling. The demanding game N.O.V.A 3 runs smoothly. But as noted above, the sensor is not very responsive, which spoils the clarity of control, it is not convenient to play.

Connection

For SIM-cards, two separate slots: micro-SIM and a full-size slot (for a large card). There is a separate slot for a memory card. Considering that many people now make a combo slot, three separate slots can be written down as the advantages of this phone. They are located under the cover. In order to install the SIM cards, you need to remove the battery.

Both SIM-cards work in 3G networks.

The interlocutor's audibility is good, the sound in the speaker is clear. There were no problems with the network.

I liked that if a second SIM card is not inserted, then only one SIM card icon is shown at the top. Usually, phones show a second crossed-out SIM card icon that cannot be removed. There is no such thing here.

In the settings, you can change the name of the SIM card and the color of the icon displayed in contacts. You can choose which one to use for the Internet, which one to choose for a call (or always ask which of the two to make a call).

Bluetooth and Wi-Fi work correctly.

satellite navigation

The MAPS.ME navigation app, with Internet and mobile tower location turned off, could not determine the position for several minutes. But the GPS Test application found a sufficient number of satellites to determine the coordinates in a minute and a half. After and in MAPS.ME, the location was determined in a matter of seconds.

The AndroiTS GPS Test application did not find Russian satellites (checked twice on different days). Accordingly, either BQ Strike does not support GLONASS, or there are failures in the GLONASS navigation system.

Camera

As you know, the number of megapixels for a camera is not an indicator, but the 13-megapixel camera in BQ Strike unexpectedly pleased. Not many $100 smartphones shoot so well. On a sunny day, the photos are excellent, on a cloudy day the quality is also quite good. You can evaluate the camera in the pictures. All of them were taken in normal shooting mode, without any settings.